SD Will Not Run Its Own Health Insurance Exchange

Gov. Dennis Daugaard says South Dakota will not set up its own health insurance exchange, but instead will let the federal government run the exchange required by the federal health care overhaul.

President Obama's health care law requires all states to have exchanges, which are online marketplaces for patients and small businesses to shop for insurance policies. Daugaard says South Dakota will join other states that have decided not to run their own exchanges.

Daugaard has previously said the state wouldn't implement any part of the federal plan until after the November election in the hope that a new president or Congress would overturn it.

The governor says annual operating costs for a state-operated exchange would be too expensive, costing between $6.3 million and $7.7 million.